O'Henry Aces-Source?

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O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby John Carney » April 27th, 2009, 6:55 pm

Hello,
I've been doing an "O'Henry Aces" since I was a teenager. I think it was from a Karl Fulves magazine (from about 1972 to 1976?), but a quick look through the collected Epilogue and Chronicles yielded no results (I don't have the collected Pallbearers). It might have even been a Krenzel item, although I may have mixed this up with his progressive aces assembly.

for those not familiar with the plot, it is an ace assembly.....when you go to make the last ace vanish from its packet.....instead of appearing in the ace pile, the aces have joined the final ace in its packet.......an "O'Henry twist" to the assembly plot.

thanks for any references.

carney

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Jonathan Townsend » April 27th, 2009, 6:57 pm

Perhaps Wesley James' LSD Aces is the item you're looking for? Fulves published it in Epilogue 16 November 1972
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Joe Pecore » April 27th, 2009, 7:09 pm

Here are some others to check out:

"O'Henry Aces" described by Trevor Lewis in The New Pentagram.

"Hitchcock Aces" by Darwin Ortiz in "At the Card Table"

O'Henry (Slow Motion) Four Aces in "Super Subtle Card Miracles" by Frank Garcia
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Reason: beat me to Epilogue issue :-)
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Joe Pecore » April 27th, 2009, 7:14 pm

And some more from Denis Behr great website: http://archive.denisbehr.de/archive/rou ... 19,296,301
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby John Carney » April 27th, 2009, 9:15 pm

thanks a lot guys.

I'll track those down. I thought sure it was in a Fulves magazine with the actual title of "o'henry aces"...I'm picturing that Fulves font and Schmidt illustrations...maybe I'm just misremembering.

I know it did use the Vernon add-on tabled addition......

I appreciate your replies.
carney

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 27th, 2009, 9:29 pm

John, you are indeed thinking of Wesley's "LSD Aces," however I believe it was preceded by an effect of Roger Smith's. Send Racherbaumer an e-mail: he'll know.
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby erdnasephile » April 27th, 2009, 9:57 pm

The Roger Smith effect Richard refers to is "Four-Ace Switcheroo" (1971).

One of the precursors to Darwin Ortiz' Hitchcock Aces is "Magician's Sleeper Aces" by Mr. Ortiz and Marvin Johnson where the 4 King aspect of the effect was introduced. (Kabbala, Vol 3, No 6, pg 80-4).

Interestingly, Mr. Ortiz uses Mr. Carney's Versa Switch to good effect in his latest version of Hitchcock Aces.(Cardshark, pg 58)

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby John Carney » April 28th, 2009, 12:14 pm

wow.....you guys are really on the ball! Thank you.

Richard....its not LSD aces, as the procedure is entirely different. The Vernon tabled add-on has been part of the routine since I learned it

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 28th, 2009, 2:03 pm

No? Must be a senior moment.
Would hate to have to look through all of Fulves's published output to find it!
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby John Carney » April 28th, 2009, 2:19 pm

richard,
I have the collected Epilogue and Chronicles (thank you!), and didn't see them there. Maybe I skipped over it.....but I found LSD aces and that is not it.

I don't own a copy of Garcia's Super Subtle Miracles......but might have borrowed it from someone when I was a kid and learned it from there.

jc

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Richard Kaufman » April 28th, 2009, 2:42 pm

John, just looked at the method in Garcia's book. He credits it to Mike Schwartz (and Roger Smith is given credit for the ending).
The whole handling is Biddle-type sleights, but there is a dump off onto the top of the deck at the end from the bottom of the right-hand packet as you scoop it off the table into the left hand.
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Feras Kharboush » May 23rd, 2009, 3:44 pm

More references on the O'Henry ending: Jack Carpenter combined it with Jazz Aces in his "O'Henry plays Jazz" from Jack Carpenter's Labyrynth special. Nothing fancy, using a standard switch.

Rafael Benatar has a version in his lecture notes Countback and his DVDs, its based on a version by Ascanio, it was in a lecture notes translated by Rafael called Ascanio's Favorites, I don't have Ascanio's books right now but its logical to assume that its in there.

Ortiz's versions,unlike other O'Henry's, introduce other set of four-of-kind.

J.C Wagner also uses it in "Ace Assembly", in his International Magic Lecture DVD. It uses a gamblers cop and the setup for the final switch is worth looking into, though Ortiz's routine is FAR more streamlined. The ending might be in J.C's Commercial Magic, I don't have it so I can't be sure.

As mentioned above, Ortiz has a routine in Kabbala ( with Marvin Johnson, this is the only place I've seen his name ), the major improvements were about the final switch. The latest version by Ortiz, using Mr.Carney's Versa switch, is so far the most streamlined I've read.

Best,
Feras

P.S, feels weird talking to one of my idols ..

EDIT: I did a little search and found this EXCELLENT thread, it traces the idea back to Roger Smith ( 1971 ), prior to the above Trevor Lewis reference ( 1972 )
http://www.geniimagazine.com/forums/ubb ... d=1#import

Speaking of Roger Smith, someone told me that he was the first to publish the Progressive Assembly (gaffed) in Necromancer Magazine in 1960s. I dont have the details and dont want to steal this thread. Any quick comments?
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Philippe Billot » May 23rd, 2009, 4:52 pm

Yes, Roger Smith seems to be the first to publish a Succession (or Progressive) Aces Assembly in his magazine The Necromancer, Vol. 1, no. 1, august 1970, page 6, but I haven't this issue, so I don't know his method, sorry.

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Feras Kharboush » May 23rd, 2009, 5:23 pm

Philippe Billot wrote:Yes, Roger Smith seems to be the first to publish a Succession (or Progressive) Aces Assembly in his magazine The Necromancer, Vol. 1, no. 1, august 1970, page 6, but I haven't this issue, so I don't know his method, sorry.

Thats good enough. Thanks :)


~Feras
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 23rd, 2009, 5:36 pm

Yes, while Roger Smith was the first to publish the Progressive Ace Assembly, Ken Krenzel has always claimed that he created it and had shown it to cardmen in New York in the early 1960s.
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Philippe Billot » May 23rd, 2009, 5:40 pm

This is an underground information !

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 23rd, 2009, 5:47 pm

I don't think it's underground: when Krenzel first published one of his methods in his one-man issue of Epilogue, Karl Fulves discussed the time frame in which Krenzel created the plot.
While it's an interesting idea, it's always been problematic to perform and I don't know anyone who uses it regularly. The only decent solutions involves many gimmicked cards.
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Matt Sedlak » May 23rd, 2009, 7:58 pm

I've been performing a version of the Progressive Assembly I developed in 2003 (Jan. 11th to be exact) that was based off of Peter Kane's handling from his book Kane. Kane used a divided card gaff as well as a duplicate; I kept the divided card but eliminated the dupe. It is the assembly I have performed the most since then and it really plays a lot stronger than most people give it credit for.

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Richard Kaufman » May 23rd, 2009, 8:04 pm

Ken would be happy to hear someone uses it, even if it's not his method.
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Matt Sedlak » May 23rd, 2009, 8:30 pm

The thing about the progressive routines is that unlike the more traditional assemblies each one seems more challenging or magical.

The most magical part of the progressive assembly seems to be, in my experience, the vanish from the third packet. The audience has just seen that three of the four cards were (in my case) Queens but now they see four indifferent cards. Having built up to that moment it is expected but ends up being such a strong moment because it seems so impossible.

Generally with other assemblies we tend to find an ending that breaks from the pattern. The O'Henry ending is a perfect example of that. The progressive assembly is one of the few that really plays without breaking from the pattern. While Ken might not be the most engaging performer he does know a thing or two about applying psychology to the development of routines. I may be mistaken but I believe he is a behaviorist which fits well with the assembly plot.

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Joe Pecore » May 23rd, 2009, 9:27 pm

I've always liked "Diminishing Returns" from Phil Golstein's Focus (originally published in December, 1981 of New Tops) which is a progressive plot combined with a reverse assembly kicker (where they all end up back in their own pile). What he did was made it much easier to perform by using identical jokers rather then aces.
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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Jonathan Townsend » May 23rd, 2009, 10:23 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:I don't think it's underground: when Krenzel first published one of his methods in his one-man issue of Epilogue, Karl Fulves discussed the time frame in which Krenzel created the plot.
While it's an interesting idea, it's always been problematic to perform and I don't know anyone who uses it regularly. The only decent solutions involves many gimmicked cards.


That would be Gary Kurtz Ultimate Progression?

I'm with Matt here - though am holding out hopes for a windowed card rather then the double ender (think Lubor Fiedler's trick ;).

Please give my regards to Dr Krenzel.

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Steve Bryant » May 24th, 2009, 12:04 am

Re the Progressive Aces, Sawa provides the no-gaff "Strolling Cow Aces" in his book by Richard.

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby Terry » May 24th, 2009, 9:35 am

Feras Kharboush wrote:J.C Wagner also uses it in "Ace Assembly", in his International Magic Lecture DVD. It uses a gamblers cop and the setup for the final switch is worth looking into, though Ortiz's routine is FAR more streamlined. The ending might be in J.C's Commercial Magic, I don't have it so I can't be sure.


The Commercial Magic of J.C. Wagner pg 60 - 'The Assembly'.

Identified sleights: The Vernon Outjog Subtlety, The Loewy Palm and Hartman's Secret Subtraction.

The effect uses a regular deck with no gaffs.

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Re: O'Henry Aces-Source?

Postby John Carney » May 31st, 2009, 1:34 pm

Thanks everyone, for your insight.

Just got a copy of the Garcia description from Super Subtle........its pretty close. I most likely learned it from roger smith's Necromancer, which I subscribed to when I was a teenager. Very small circulation, but had some great stuff. It makes sense that that is where I learned it. I might have just substituted the Vernon Add On as being more deceptive than just dropping a packet as you drag the other off the table edge.

Either way, I would recommend this routine. I do it pretty often, and its pretty commercial if you don't load it up with too much handling and procedure.

The Progressive Ace Assembly is interesting from a technical point of view, but the effect is not clear or as commercial.

thanks to all!


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